Order to modify DC10s in U.S.

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33492, 25 March 1974, Page 11

Order to modify DC10s in U.S.

(H Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) WASHINGTON, March 24. United States airlines have been ordered to make new modifications to the cargo door design of DCIO aircraft, after the catastrophic crash of a Turkish aircraft near Paris on March 3.

The order was issued by the Federal Aviation Administration yesterday as the aircraft’s makers, McDonnell Douglas, announced that preliminary evidence indicated that the Turkish DCIO airliner did not have all the approved changes after a near-crash of another DCIO in June, 1972. The Administration’s new

order said that the cargo door latching mechanism and warning system must be modified by July 1, in accordance with a McDonnell Douglas service bulletin dated March 15.

The ruling, involving four improvements, put the force of law behind actions already taken by the manufacturer. The directive is binding on American operators and has also been sent to all foreign governments.

McDonnell Douglas has already begun voluntarily to make one of the more farreaching of the changes, intended to make it impossible to pressurise the plane if door locking pins are not in place. The F.A.A. Administrator (Mr Butterfield) also said that further modifications would be necessary to ensure that depressurisation would riot occur in flight.